“At that time Jesus answered and said, I make
acknowledgment unto Thee,16061606 [A.V., “I thank thee,” so R.V., with
margin, “Or, praise.” The Oxford translator gives the exact
sense of the Greek verb, but below reverts to the rendering
“thank,” in accordance with the explanation of
Chrysostom.—R.]O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth; because Thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight.”16071607 [R.V., “Yea, Father, for (or, that) so it was
well-pleasing in thy sight.” Comp. the explanation in the
Homily.—R.]

Seest thou, how many ways He
leads them on to the faith? First,16081608Matt. xi.
7–11.by His praises of John. For by pointing to him as a great and
marvellous one, He proved likewise all his sayings credible, whereby he
used to draw them on to the knowledge of Him. Secondly,16091609Matt. xi.
12.by saying, “The kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the
violent take it by force;” for this is the language of one who is
pressing and urging them. Thirdly,16101610Matt. vi.
13.by signifying that the number of the prophets was finished; for this
too manifested Himself to be the person that was announced beforehand
by them. Fourthly,16111611Matt. vi.
14–19.by pointing out that whatsoever things should be done by him, were all
accomplished; at which time
246
also
He made mention of the parable of the children. Fifthly, by His
upbraiding them that had not believed, and by His alarming and
threatening them greatly.16121612Matt. xi.
20–24. Sixthly, by His giving thanks for them that believed. For the
expression, “I make acknowledgment to Thee,” here is,
“I thank Thee.” “I thank Thee,” He saith,
“because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent.”

What then? doth He rejoice in destruction, and in the
others not having received this knowledge? By no means; but this is a
most excellent way of His to save men, His not forcing them that
utterly reject, and are not willing to receive His sayings; that, since
they were not bettered by His call, but fell back, and despised it, His
casting them out might cause them to fall into a longing for these
things. And so likewise the attentive would grow more earnest.

And while His being revealed to these was fit matter of
joy, His concealment from those was no more of joy but of tears. Thus
at any rate He acts, where He weeps for the city. Not therefore because
of this doth He rejoice, but because what wise men knew not, was known
to these. As when Paul saith, “I thank God, that ye were servants
of sin, but ye obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine which was
delivered unto you.”16131613Rom. vi.
17. [R.V., “that form
of teaching whereunto ye were delivered.” The A.V. renders the
passage incorrectly: there being no doubt as to the Greek text. The
R.V. also brings out the thought which the Homily
indicates.—R.] You see, neither doth Paul therefore rejoice, because they were
“servants of sin,” but because being such, they had been so
highly favored.

Now by the “wise,” here, He means the
Scribes, and the Pharisees. And these things He saith, to make the
disciples more earnest, and to show what had been vouchsafed to the
fishermen, when all those others had missed of it. And in calling them
“wise,” He means not the true and commendable wisdom, but
this which they seemed to have through natural shrewdness. Wherefore
neither did He say, “thou hast revealed it to fools,” but
“to babes;” to unsophisticated, that is, to simple-minded
men; and He implies that so far from their missing these privileges
contrary to their desert, it was just what might be expected. And He
instructs us throughout, to be free from pride, and to follow after
simplicity. For this cause Paul also expressed it with more exceeding
earnestness, writing on this wise: “If any man among you seemeth
to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be
wise.”161416141 Cor. iii.
18. For thus is God’s grace manifested.

But wherefore doth He give thanks to the Father,
although of course it was Himself who wrought this? As He prays and
intercedes with God, showing His great love towards us, in the same way
doth He this too: for this also is of much love. And He signifies, that
not from Him only had they fallen away, but also from the Father. Thus,
what He said, speaking to His disciples, “Cast not the holy
things unto dogs,”16151615Matt. vii.
6.this He Himself anticipated them in performing.

Moreover He signifies hereby both His own principal16161616προηγομενον.
In the same sense in which Hooker says, “He willeth positively
that which Himself worketh; He willeth by permission that which His
creatures do.” E. P. v. App. No. 1, p. 714, cf. in Walton’s
Life, p. 29. “That in God there were two wills, an antecedent and
a consequent will; His first will, that all mankind should be saved;
His second, that those only should be saved, who lived answerable to
that degree of grace which He had offered.”will, and that of the Father; His own, I say, by His giving thanks and
rejoicing at what had taken place; His Father’s, by intimating
that neither had He done this upon entreaty, but of Himself upon His
own will; “For so,” saith He, “it seemed good in Thy
sight:” that is, “so it pleased Thee.”

And wherefore was it hidden from them? Hear Paul,
saying, that “Seeking to establish their own righteousness, they
have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.”16171617Rom. x.
3.

Consider now how it was likely the disciples should16181618 [“would;” but the whole clause has been
freely paraphrased.—R.]be affected, hearing this; that what wise men knew not, these knew, and
knew it continuing babes, and knew it by God’s revelation. But
Luke saith, that “at the very hour,” when the seventy came
telling Him about the devils, then He “rejoiced” and spake
these things,16191619Luke x.
21.which, besides increasing their diligence, would also dispose them to
be modest. That is, since it was natural for them to pride themselves
on their driving away devils, on this among other grounds He refrains
them; that it was a revelation, whatever had been done, no diligence on
their part. Wherefore also the scribes, and the wise men, thinking to
be intelligent for themselves, fell away through their own vanity. Well
then, if for this cause it was hidden from them, “do you
also,” saith He, “fear, and continue babes.” For this
caused you to have the benefit of the revelation, as indeed on the
other hand the contrary made them be deprived of it. For by
247
no means, when He saith, “Thou hast
hid,” doth He mean that it is all God’s doing: but as when
Paul saith, “He gave them over to a reprobate mind,”16201620Rom. i.
28.and, “He hath blinded their minds,”162116212 Cor. iv.
4. [“This passage is
irrelevant, since it speaks of “the god of this
world.”—R.]it is not meant to bring Him in as the doer of it, but those who gave
the occasion: so here also He uses the expression, “Thou hast
hid.”

For since He had said, “I thank16221622 [See above, and note 1, p. 250.—R.] Thee, because Thou hast hid them, and hast revealed them unto
babes;” to hinder thy supposing that as being Himself deprived of
this power, and unable to effect it, so He offers thanks, He saith,

“All things are delivered unto me of my
Father.”16231623Matt. xi.
27. And to them that are rejoicing, because the devils obey them,
“Nay, why marvel,” saith He,16241624Luke x.
22.“that devils yield to you? All things are mine; “All things
are delivered unto me.”

But when thou hearest, “they are delivered,”
do not surmise anything human. For He uses this expression, to prevent
thine imagining two unoriginate Gods. Since, that He was at the same
time both begotten, and Lord of all, He declares in many ways, and in
other places also.

2. Then He saith what is even greater than this, lifting
up thy mind; “And no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither
knoweth any man the Father, but the Son.” Which seems indeed to
the ignorant unconnected with what went before, but hath full
accordance therewith. As thus: having said, “All things are
delivered unto me of my Father,” He adds, “And what
marvel,” so He speaks, “if I be Lord of all? I who have
also another greater privilege, the knowing the Father, and being of
the same substance.” Yea, for this too He covertly signifies by
His being the only one who so knew Him. For this is His meaning, when
He saith, “No man knoweth the Father but the Son.”

And see at what time He saith this. When they by His
works had received the certain proof of His might, not only seeing Him
work miracles, but endowed also in His name with so great powers. Then,
since He had said, “Thou hast revealed them unto babes,” He
signifies this also to pertain to Himself; for “neither knoweth
any man the Father,” saith He, “save the Son, and he to
whomsoever the Son is willing16251625βοληται. [R.V.,
“willeth.”]to reveal Him;16261626Matt. xi.
27.not “to whomsoever He may be enjoined,” “to
whomsoever He may be commanded.” But if He reveals Him, then
Himself too. This however He let pass as acknowledged, but the other He
hath set down. And everywhere He affirms this; as when He saith,
“No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”16271627John xiv.
6.

And thereby he establishes another point also, His being
in harmony and of one mind with Him. “Why,” saith He,
“I am so far from fighting and warring with Him, that no one can
even come to Him but by me.” For because this most offended them,
His seeming to be a rival God, He by all means doth away with this; and
interested Himself about this not less earnestly, but even more so,
than about His miracles.

But when He saith, “Neither knoweth any man the
Father, save the Son,” He means not this, that all men were
ignorant of Him, but that with the knowledge wherewith He knows16281628ἐπσταται. Him, no man is acquainted with Him; which may be said of the Son too.16291629 That is, that none but the Father has full knowledge
of Him. For it was not of some God unknown, and revealed to no man, that He was
so speaking, as Marcion saith;16301630 Tertull. adv. Marc. i. 8. “The Marcionites
bring forward a new God, as if we were ashamed of the ancient
One.…I hear them talk of a new God, in the old world and in the
old age, and under that ancient God, unknown and unheard of.”
[Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. iii. p. 276.] It seems to have been
common to all the Oriental sects, to speak of the Supreme God as
utterly unknown until the Christian dispensation began.but it is the perfection of knowledge that He is here intimating, since
neither do we know the Son as He should be known; and this very thing,
to add no more, Paul was declaring, when he said, “We know in
part, and we prophesy in part.”163116311 Cor.
xiii. 9.

3. Next, having brought them by His words to an earnest
desire, and having signified His unspeakable power, He after that
invites them, saying, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”16321632Matt. xi.
28. Not this or that person, but all that are in anxiety, in sorrows, in
sins. Come, not that I may call you to account, but that I may do away
your sins; come, not that I want your honor, but that I want your
salvation. “For I,” saith He, “will give you
rest.” He said not, “I will save you,” only; but what
was much more, “I will place you in all security.”

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am
meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my
yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”16331633Matt. xi.
29, 30. Thus, “be not afraid,” saith He, “hearing of a yoke,
for it is easy: fear not, because I said, “a burden,” for
it is light.”

And how said He before, “The gate is
248
narrow and the way strait?”16341634Matt. vii.
13. Whilst thou art careless, whilst thou art supine; whereas, if thou duly
perform His words, the burden will be light; wherefore also He hath now
called it so.

But how are they duly performed? If thou art become
lowly, and meek, and gentle. For this virtue is the mother of all
strictness of life. Wherefore also, when beginning those divine laws,
with this He began.16351635Matt. v.
3. And here again He doeth the very same, and exceeding great is the
reward He appoints. “For not to another only dost thou become
serviceable; but thyself also above all thou refreshest,” saith
He. “For ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

Even before the things to come, He gives thee here thy
recompense, and bestows the prize already, making the saying
acceptable, both hereby, and by setting Himself forward as an example.
For, “Of what art thou afraid?” saith He, “lest thou
shouldest be a loser by thy low estate? Look to me, and to all that is
mine; learn of me, and then shalt thou know distinctly how great thy
blessing.” Seest thou how in all ways He is leading them to
humility? By His own doings: “Learn of me, for I am meek.”
By what themselves are to gain; for, “Ye shall find,” saith
He,” rest unto your souls.” By what He bestows on them;
for, “I too will refresh you,” saith He. By rendering it
light; “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” So
likewise doth Paul, saying, “For the present light affliction,
which is but for a moment, worketh a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory.”163616362 Cor. iv.
17.

And how, some one may say, is the burden light, when He
saith, “Except one hate father and mother;” and,
“Whosoever taketh not up his cross, and followeth after me, is
not worthy of me:” and, “Whosoever forsaketh not all that
he hath, cannot be my disciple:”16371637Luke xiv.
26, 27, 33; Matt. x. 37, 38.when He commands even to give up our very life?16381638Matt. xvi.
25. Let Paul teach thee, saying, “Who shall separate us from the love
of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword?16391639Rom. viii.
35.” And that, “The sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in
us.”16401640Rom. viii.
18. Let those teach thee, who return from the council of the Jews after
plenty of stripes, and “rejoice that they were counted worthy to
suffer shame for the name of Christ.”16411641Acts v.
41. And if thou art still afraid and tremblest at hearing of the yoke and
the burden, the fear comes not of the nature of the thing, but of thy
remissness; since if thou art prepared, and in earnest, all will be
easy to thee and light. Since for this cause Christ also, to signify
that we too must needs labor ourselves, did not mention the gracious
things only, and then hold His peace, nor the painful things only, but
set down both. Thus He both spake of “a yoke,” and called
it “easy;” both named a burden, and added that it was
“light;” that thou shouldest neither flee from them as
toilsome, nor despise them as over easy.

But if even after all this, virtue seem to thee an
irksome thing, consider that vice is more irksome. And this very thing
He was intimating, in that He said not first, “Take my yoke upon
you,” but before that, “Come, ye that labor and are heavy
laden;” implying that sin too hath labor, and a burden that is
heavy and hard to bear. For He said not only, “Ye that
labor,” but also, “that are heavy laden.” This the
prophet too was speaking of, when in that description of her nature,
“As an heavy burden they weighed heavy upon me.”16421642Ps.
xxxviii. 4. And Zacharias too, describing her, saith she is “A talent of
lead.”16431643Zech. v. 7,
8.

And this moreover experience itself proves. For nothing
so weighs upon the soul, and presses it down, as consciousness of sin;
nothing so much gives it wings, and raises it on high, as the
attainment of righteousness and virtue.

And mark it: what is more grievous, I pray thee, than to
have no possessions? to turn the cheek, and when smitten not to smite
again? to die by a violent death? Yet nevertheless, if we practise
self-command, all these things are light and easy, and pleasurable.

But be not disturbed; rather let us take up each of
these, and inquire about it accurately; and if ye will, that first
which many count most painful. Which then of the two, tell me, is
grievous and burdensome, to be in care for one belly, or to be anxious
about ten thousand? To be clothed with one outer garment, and seek for
nothing more; or having many in one’s house, to bemoan
one’s self every day and night in fear, in trembling, about the
preservation of them, grieved, and ready to choke about the loss of
them; lest one should be moth-eaten, lest a servant purloin and go off
with them?

4. But whatever I may say, my speech will present no
such proof as the actual trial. Wherefore I would there were present
here with us some one of those who have attained unto that summit of
self-restraint, and then
249
you would
know assuredly the delight thereof; and that none of those that are
enamored of voluntary poverty would accept wealth, though ten thousand
were to offer it.

But would these, say you, ever consent to become poor,
and to cast away the anxieties which they have? And what of that? This
is but a proof of their madness and grievous disease, not of anything
very pleasurable in the thing. And this even themselves would testify
to us, who are daily lamenting over these their anxieties, and
accounting their life to be not worth living. But not so those others;
rather they laugh, leap for joy, and the wearers of the diadem do not
so glory, as they do in their poverty.

Again, to turn the cheek is, to him that gives heed, a
less grievous thing than to smite another; for from this the contest
hath beginning, in that termination: and whereas by the former thou
hast kindled the other’s pile too, by the latter thou hast
quenched even thine own flames. But that not to be burnt is a
pleasanter thing than to be burnt, is surely plain to every man. And if
this hold in regard of bodies, much more in a soul.

And whether is lighter, to contend, or to be crowned? to
fight, or to have the prize? and to endure waves, or to run into
harbor? Therefore also, to die is better than to live. For the one
withdraws us from waves and dangers, while the other adds unto them,
and makes a man subject to numberless plots and distresses, which have
made life not worth living in thine account.

And if thou disbelievest our sayings, hearken to them
that have seen the countenances of the martyrs in the time of their
conflicts, how when scourged and flayed, they were exceeding joyful and
glad, and when exposed upon hot irons, rejoiced, and were glad of
heart, more than such as lie upon a bed of roses. Wherefore Paul also
said, when he was at the point of departing hence, and closing his life
by a violent death, “I joy, and rejoice with you all; for the
same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.”16441644Phil. ii.
17, 18. [R.V., “and in
the same manner also,” etc.] Seest thou with what exceeding strength of language he invites the
whole world to partake in his gladness? So great a good did he know his
departure hence to be, so desirable, and lovely, and worthy of prayer,
that formidable thing, death.

5. But that virtue’s yoke is sweet and light, is
manifest many other ways also; but to conclude, if you please, let us
look also at the burdens of sin. Let us then bring forward the
covetous, the retailers and second-hand dealers in shameless bargains.
What now could be a heavier burden than such transactions? how many
sorrows, how many anxieties, how many disappointments, how many
dangers, how many plots and wars, daily spring up from these gains? how
many troubles and disturbances? For as one can never see the sea
without waves, so neither such a soul without anxiety, and despondency,
and fear, and disturbance; yea, the second overtakes the first, and
again others come up, and when these are not yet ceased, others come to
a head.

Or wouldest thou see the souls of the revilers, and of
the passionate? Why, what is worse than this torture? what, than the
wounds they have within? what, than the furnace that is continually
burning, and the flame that is never quenched?

Or of the sensual, and of such as cleave unto this
present life? Why, what more grievous than this bondage? They live the
life of Cain, dwelling in continual trembling and fear at every death
that happens; the kinsmen of the dead mourn not so much, as these do
for their own end.

What again fuller of turmoil, and more frantic, than
such as are puffed up with pride? “For learn,” saith He,
“of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls.” Because long-suffering is the mother of all
good things.

Fear thou not therefore, neither start away from the
yoke that lightens thee of all these things, but put thyself under it
with all forwardness, and then thou shalt know well the pleasure
thereof. For it doth not at all bruise thy neck, but is put on thee for
good order’s sake only, and to persuade thee to walk seemly, and
to lead thee unto the royal road, and to deliver thee from the
precipices on either side, and to make thee walk with ease in the
narrow way.

Since then so great are its benefits, so great its
security, so great its gladness, let us with all our soul, with all our
diligence, draw this yoke; that we may both here “find rest unto
our souls,” and attain unto the good things to come, by the grace
and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and
might, now and ever, and world without end. Amen.

1606 [A.V., “I thank thee,” so R.V., with
margin, “Or, praise.” The Oxford translator gives the exact
sense of the Greek verb, but below reverts to the rendering
“thank,” in accordance with the explanation of
Chrysostom.—R.]

1607 [R.V., “Yea, Father, for (or, that) so it was
well-pleasing in thy sight.” Comp. the explanation in the
Homily.—R.]

1613Rom. vi.
17. [R.V., “that form
of teaching whereunto ye were delivered.” The A.V. renders the
passage incorrectly: there being no doubt as to the Greek text. The
R.V. also brings out the thought which the Homily
indicates.—R.]

1616προηγομενον.
In the same sense in which Hooker says, “He willeth positively
that which Himself worketh; He willeth by permission that which His
creatures do.” E. P. v. App. No. 1, p. 714, cf. in Walton’s
Life, p. 29. “That in God there were two wills, an antecedent and
a consequent will; His first will, that all mankind should be saved;
His second, that those only should be saved, who lived answerable to
that degree of grace which He had offered.”

1630 Tertull. adv. Marc. i. 8. “The Marcionites
bring forward a new God, as if we were ashamed of the ancient
One.…I hear them talk of a new God, in the old world and in the
old age, and under that ancient God, unknown and unheard of.”
[Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. iii. p. 276.] It seems to have been
common to all the Oriental sects, to speak of the Supreme God as
utterly unknown until the Christian dispensation began.